


The Ultimate Taboo

by theexhaustedalchemist



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst and Tragedy, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Ling really needs a hug, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:47:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23571088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theexhaustedalchemist/pseuds/theexhaustedalchemist
Summary: Ling kneels at the spot where everything changed. Where he lost everything he ever wanted. Where he became more avaricious than Greed himself.
Relationships: Greed/Ling Yao
Comments: 8
Kudos: 75





	The Ultimate Taboo

**Author's Note:**

> I incorporated a lot of actual dialogue from Greed’s onscreen death. I tried to make it clear when I was using this, by putting it in italics in its own paragraphs and using small breaks before and after. If there’s italics incorporated into normal paragraphs, or italics followed immediately by lots of normal font, then that is not from the show! There is one occurrence of normal font for a sentence in between the italic lines, and that’s to show the action in the scene. I hope this helped clear up any confusion! Enjoy:)

Ling had never understood why someone would commit the ultimate taboo. Sure, he could see the Elric’s anguish whenever talking about their mother, and he heard about their teacher’s pain in losing her child, but going _that_ far? Maybe it was because he grew up seeing death and loss everywhere. He watched his brothers and sisters fight and die competing for their father’s throne. He saw the aftermath of clans battling each other. He’d even seen floods devastate his and nearby clan’s lands. But trying to bring someone dead back to life? He couldn’t understand the desperation of those who’ve opened the portal. He just couldn’t. There were far better uses for a Philosopher’s stone.

  
  
  


The pavement no longer caves in. The stones were long since repaired as Amestris has plenty of alchemists to repair the destruction of the Promised Day. Ling was supposed to leave for Xing weeks ago, but kept putting it off, saying he needed more time in Amestris. Lan Fan has given him space, but he knows that in the coming days she’ll insist they have to leave.   
  


Ling walks slowly forward, a blank stare on his face as his mind plays the events of that day, just like it had been doing for 3 weeks.

_ Fight it, Greed! _

_ Let go, dumbass! You’re going to get dragged in with me! _

_ No way! I’m not letting you go that easily! I need you with me if I’m going to be Emperor! _

Ling kneels at the spot where everything changed. Where he lost _everything_ he ever wanted. Where he became more avaricious than Greed himself. 

_ Just let go! My entire being was extracted from his Greed and the power that’s trying to reclaim me is a hell of a lot stronger than your body! _

_ You can’t just give up! Tough it out! _

His hand drops to the pavement as images of seeing Father’s hand trying to drag Greed out of him flash through his mind. He rubs at his abdomen, the last place he ever felt Greed’s presence inside of him.

_  
Oh no! My body! I won’t let go!! _

  
His arms had started to crack apart with red lightning as he held onto the homunculus being sucked out of him, but it wasn’t enough in the end. Nothing he did was ever enough.

_ Let fight him together, eh partner? _

Ling slams the pavement with closed fists, ignoring the sharp pain that spikes through his arms. He remembers the hope that rushed in. His face’s previous furrowed brows were replaced with a sort of smirk. They could do this, right? He and Greed were strong enough to do  _ anything. _ They could fight against that stupid bastard  _ together _ .

_ That’s more like it - oh!  _

A closed fist had punched him in the face.

_ What are you- _

As quickly as his hope and determination had set in, he remembers the panic quickly coming back, escalating as he began to realize what Greed was doing. Ling feels tears spring up in the corners of his eyes, but he refuses to let them fall. 

_  
It’s time to say goodbye kid. There’s no point in you getting sucked into my old man with me. _

_ Hold on a second Greed! You just told me we’d fight him together! You can’t just sucker punch me like that! How could you lie? You always said you don’t believe in telling lies! _

_They were supposed to be in it together!_ Letting out an angry shout, Ling pounds the pavement with his fists again, feeling blood drip out of his cracked skin on his knuckles. Greed had fucking lied to him. He gave him hope and then turned around and destroyed it again in seconds. Ling could  _ never  _ forgive Greed for what he did.

__

_ That was the one and only lie of my life. Lan Fan has a Philosopher's stone. So you don’t even need me anymore kid. _

__

_ Not need him anymore?  _ Ling’s shoulders shake, tears flowing from his eyes as he sits back and cries silently into his knees, his head resting on top of his burning hands that lay across his legs. He let him believe that he was only needed for his immortality. _That couldn’t be more wrong._ All his life, Ling had one goal - to find a way to become Emperor and beat his siblings in the process. But after the homunculus became a part of him, he felt things he never had felt before. Unfathomable joy at the feeling of Greed complimenting him after a good idea. Endless pride at seeing what they did  _ together _ . But now - a deep setting sorrow and grief that he had never felt before. Even Lan Fan losing her arm didn’t hurt him this deeply. He had never spent as much time as he did staring off for hours on end, not able to move or eat or sleep as he contemplated why he was still here when  _ he  _ wasn’t. How could he continue like this, when he’s missing part of his soul?

The hole he’s felt in his chest since Greed’s death feels like it’s expanding, engulfing any strength he has left. 

_ Greed! _

The last thing he ever said to Greed, who knew him better than he did himself was just his name. What should he had said? A thank you? A goodbye? A fuck-you-for-leaving-me-all-alone?

_ I had enough. That’s all I really needed. They gave me everything I could want.  _

Ling lets out a choked sob as he presses his forehead forcefully against his forearm. It’s ironic, isn’t it? That Greed, the one who’s supposed to want everything, the one who’s supposed to never stop  _ wanting,  _ is the one who has everything. And Ling is the one who wants what he can’t have.

_ Thank you and goodbye my friends. _

Sitting on the newly repaired stones with blood painting them red from his broken knuckles, wishing with avarice for something already out of his reach, Ling finally understood the appeal of the ultimate taboo. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Any feedback is always appreciated:)


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